Whose Choice is it really?  

From @Earwiggle

Freedom for individuals and civil liberty must allow individuals to have some element of choice and to make decisions. The right  to speak freely, to follow a religion, or not,  whether to  have children, whether to marry, or not. These are choices everyone should be entitled to, regardless of their gender, nationality or race, and throughout history many have fought to protect freedom.

Freedom and human rights and access to needs should encompass all. Where excessive power enforces an imbalance whereby freedom of choice is denied others. Considering  some contradictions of liberty, liberalism, and especially neoliberalism, we can see that, in civilisation, in order to maintain liberty and human rights for all, if everyone were  ‘free to do as they please” we would have chaos, and therefore, for society to function, for liberty for us all, we need to have access to our basic needs.

1. Liberty 1 freedom from captivity, slavery, restrictions, etc. 2 freedom to act and think as one pleases. 3 (usually liberties) a natural right or privilege.
2. Liberalism  is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property.
3. Neoliberalism  is a label for Economic liberalism, advocates of which support economic liberalization, free trade and open markets, privatization,deregulation, and decreasing the size of the public sector while increasing the role of the private sector in modern society.

Neoliberal politics where markets rules are fundamentally flawed. Unbridled capitalism tells a lie in that competitive forces will allow growth and development for the benefit of all. The competitive laws of the jungle have to place in a civilised society. The neoliberalists use the argument that there will be enhanced choice, and that this leads to enhanced choice, and therefore greater freedoms. But the precise apposite is the case.

Who really has a choice? What is controlling the choice? What decisions are made in making that choice?

• If you recognise the sense of panic when faced with fifty odd types of coffee , you are not alone.
• If you are a parent faced with choosing your child’s school, and worry about the wrong choice, you are not alone.
• If you browse through a hundred TV stations, but fail to find anything of interest you are not alone.

The idea that increased choice will enrich our lives is a fallacy.

Supermarkets seem to offer a range of choice – but who controls that choice? When local butchers and greengrocers are forced to close down, the supermarket chains are in a position to benefit from their own brands.

If money is allowed to control choice, the majority are denied that choice. 

To state the obvious: What choice can a family on a joint income of £20,000 or less exercise to apply for a school that charges £12,000 a year? How many families know of the existence of the shadowy world of tutoring that powers children into the highly selective grammars (and private schools) dotted around our major towns and cities? School Wars

Noam Chomsky speaks on Libertarianism Socialism, and the confusion of terms.

What is being called libertarianism in the West is  tyranny, or plutonomy or neofeudailsm, where the majority  have no liberty, freedom or choice.

References and Further Reading: 

• Capitalism, Neoliberalism, Plutonomy and Neofeudalism, Think Left
• Labour should be the party of Civil Liberties, Think Left
• School Wars, Melissa Benn
• Choice: RSA  Animate
• Noam Chomsky on Libertarian Socialism